Melody of the Rasengan
by eldritchbob
Summary: When Anbu captain Inu is made a jonin again, he accidentaly finds out the truth behind Naruto's heritage. how will this affect Naruto's growth as a Ninja? And what will happen when Kakashi finds a half dead kunouchi, that reminds him so much of his dead sensei's wife? Find out...in the Melody of the Rasengan.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This fic is dedicated to forbiddenfruitunloved, for planting the seeds that formed into this story, which has proceeded to throttle me as I sleep and give me to many ideas to write down ^^u  
I don't own Naruto. If I did, then I would be living off custard creams and cherry-aid for the rest of my life…mmmmm…**

Chapter 1: Councils, Jobs, and revelations.

The Anbu captain known as Inu smiled behind his dog mask as he watched the young blond haired boy that he'd been told to watch. Over time the boy had quite grown on him. Several Anbu agents were confused about it, as Inu initially blamed the child for his sensei's death, seeing the boy as the Kyuubi instead of the Kyuubi's jailor. This view had changed suddenly after he witnessed an unforgivable sight.

_Flashback_

Inu jumped across the rooftops, cursing the demon brat under his breath. Somehow the kid had run off without him noticing. If the brat could be found quickly, then Inu would have nothing to worry about other. If not, then the Hokage would have his head for sure. Something moved in the Anbu captain's peripheral vision. He turned his head, and saw three shinobi exiting an alley. The thing that shocked him, was the residual chakra he could sense coming from them, the blood splattered on their clothes, and the smell of charred flesh coming from the alleyway. A feeling of panic swelled up inside him as he dashed into the small alleyway. What he saw made him feel sick. The blond child was lying on the ground, cuts littering his body, and burns (Inu couldn't tell if they were 2_nd__ or 3__rd__ degree) covered half of the small body. Something in Inu's heart broke when he saw the damage that had been done to the demon brat._

_"__No.__" Inu thought to himself. "__If he was a demon, he'd never have let something like this happen to himself. This is a defenceless child.__" He checked for a pulse, praying that he was still alive. Blue eyes fluttered open, and the child flinched away from Inu's hand._

_"It's alright." Inu said through his mask. "I'm here to help you. What's your name?"_

_"N-Naruto…" the child looked at Inu as if he was trying to see any lies through the mask._

_"Naruto…please forgive me for not finding you sooner. I could have stopped this…prevented them from hurting you." Naruto looked at Inu in shock, as the ANBU operative bowed his head. Before he could say anything, he found himself being carefully picked up from the ground and cradled against the adults chest._

_"Wh-what?"_

_"Take it easy Naruto. I'm going to take you to the hospital." Inu carefully jumped up to the rooftops, and ran the distance to the hospital._

Flashback end

Inu chuckled to himself as he remembered he face on the hospital workers face when he'd threatened to have him thrown in jail if Naruto wasn't treated well. Another Anbu officer suddenly landed silently next to him.

"The council requests your presence Inu-san." Inu nodded slightly, and put his hands together in a handsign. "I will watch over the demon Inu-san, don't worry." Inu paused momentarily.

"I think not actually. **Shadow clone jutsu!**" With a plume of smoke, three clones appeared.

"Watch over Naruto, and make sure that no-one attacks him." He ordered them. The three Inu-clones nodded, and vanished, hurrying off to unseen locations to watch over their charge. The original turned to the Anbu agent, and nodded at him. "Take me to the council." Inu smirked as the council's messenger stiffly nodded and ran towards the council rooms, before following closely behind.

"Anbu captain Inu, reporting in." One of the Shinobi council members stood at hearing this.

"You're late, captain." Inu gave a small bow of respect.

"I'm very sorry, but I was leaving some clones to watch over Naruto while I was here." He turned to the Hokage, and bowed deeply. "Hokage-sama, is everything alright?"

"I wish I could say I knew Inu-san." Sarutobi stated, a smile playing on his lips as he watched the councils reaction to the Anbu captains tardiness reasoning. "It was not me who called this meeting, but the council. I'm rather interested to know what was so important that I had to be pulled out of a meeting." Several of the council members from both sides looked uneasy upon hearing this, having thought that the old man would have been doing paperwork. One of the more important merchants that sat on the council stood up, his large stomach making the simple feat slightly more difficult for him.

"The councils want you to watch over Sasuke Uchiha." Inu nodded thoughtfully for a few moments, before speaking.

"Very well. I'll have some Anbu members that I trust watch over him." The elders stiffened at this. They would have preferred it if the Uchiha was left unguarded, along with the jinchūriki. Another member of the civilian council stood up angrily and glared at the masked man.

"That's not what we said, YOU are to watch the Uchiha, not your underlings!" The man slammed his fist onto the desk before him in anger. Inu turned and looked at the man for a moment.

"I'm sorry…I didn't know that CIVILIANS had the authority in this village to order Anbu captains about. I must be mistaken…but I thought that only the Hokage had that power. Have I missed an announcement, Hokage-sama?" Sarutobi chuckled at the Anbu captain's laid back attitude, and sarcastic remark.

"If there was a note, then I must have missed it as well." The council members flinched as their leaders gaze went over them.

"Captain Inu is within his rights to assign any Anbu that fall under his command to the task that you have…requested, and continue to personally watch over Naruto." Yet another civilian council member rose up, her face a mask of anger.

"Why should the Demon brat have your protection, instead of the last Uchiha?" She was about to say more, when a wave of killing intent hit her. All the occupants of the room looked at the source. Inu turned and faced the councillor. He held her gaze, and she stayed as still as she could, a feeling that if she moved, the shinobi before them would be on her like a hunting dog on its prey flickered through her mind.

"I watch over Naruto, because it is my duty, as appointed to me by the Hokage, and because if I didn't he would get killed by the villagers or the shinobi of this village, something that makes me ashamed to be a Konoha citizen. If it makes you feel any better, I'll put members of Anbu on Sasuke's watch, who I'd trust with my life, and who my old friend, and fellow Anbu captain also trusted."

"Who is this other captain, Inu?" Koharu queried. Inu looked at her through his mask, and somehow the entire council room knew that he was smiling beneath it.

"Aah yes. You might have heard of him…his codename was Weasel, but his real name was Itachi Uchiha." A loud murmer ran through the council room. Koharu and Homaru looked at each other and Hiruzen anxiously. The old Hokage just smirked at Inu's ingenuity.

"Very well Inu. Assign whoever you wish to watch over Sasuke, and get back to your post." Inu nodded to the leader of the village."This meeting is over. Go back to what your jobs and homes now. Inu, I'd like to speak with you privately." The Hokage shunshinned to his office, quickly followed by the Anbu captain in question.

"…I thought you said that you were in a meeting." The Hokage smiled as he lit his pipe.

"Just because I said it, doesn't mean that the meeting wasn't being wrapped up when I was called." He gave a short chuckle around his pipe. "Now…about the matter I wanted to discuss with you. I want you to go back to being a jonin, and take a genin team soon."

The Anbu captain paced around the office for a moment, before stopping with his back turned to the Hokage. "What's going to happen to Naruto?" The Hokage smiled, and gave his answer.

"I'm going to keep a close eye on him myself, and show the ninja body what will happen if they attack Naruto. I will also assign some of my personal guard to him." He saw the Anbu's silver hair bob, a sign that he had nodded. He turned, and started to remove his mask. The Hokage found himself leaning forwards, anxious to see what was behind. A shadow, being cast by a sign, covered the lower half of his face. Mask removed, the Anbu captain stared at the Hokage, a scar going through his left eye as obvious as the startling red that the left eye held. Gone was the Anbu captain Inu. In his place stood the legendary Copycat ninja Kakashi Hatake, son of the silver fang of Konoha, and only surviving member of the team taught by Minato Namikaze, the fourth Hokage. Kakashi sighed, and looked at the Hokage with half lidded eyes.

"Can I keep the mask?"

Naruto sat in the apartment that he'd been given by the 'Old man Hokage' as he sometimes called him, when someone suddenly appeared next to him. Naruto flinched, but calmed down when he saw who it was.

"Inu-san!" the silver haired Anbu chuckled and ruffled the blond ball of enthusiasms hair.

"Hello Naruto." He sat himself down next to the blond and let out an exhausted sigh. "aah…it's good to be able to sit down again." Naruto chuckled at the comment.

"So what are you doing here Inu-san?" Inu let out another sigh, a much sadder one this time.

"I've got some bad news for you Naruto…I'm going to have to quit being a member of Anbu soon…Hokage's orders." He saw the look of horror that crossed the young boy's face. "Now don't worry. I've talked to the Hokage, and he said that he'll be assigning his personal guards to look over you." Naruto's face scrunched up in confusion.

"What does that mean?" Inu chuckled again.

"It means, that you're going to have the same people protecting you, that protect the Hokage." Naruto's face lit up at the idea of having Hokage level protection. "Plus, I'll be keeping an eye on you and protecting you when they can't." He pulled the boy into a small embrace, a feeling of sadness welling up inside him as the child flinched. He let go and stood up, heading for the door.

"Hey, Inu-san!" He stopped and looked back at Naruto. "Can you tell me what your name will be next time we meet?" The two parts of the ninja fought each other. Kakashi Hatake wanted to say yes, but Anbu captain Inu was saying that his orders said no. The Anbu captain won out in the end.

"I'm sorry Naruto. I wish that I could tell you, but I could be endangering you if I did. There are a lot of scary people who would like to see me dead." The small boy pouted. "but…" Naruto's head popped up, his eyes shining in anticipation. "There's nothing stopping me from say…telling you the name of a very close friend of mine." One look at Naruto told him that the underlying message wasn't getting through. He sighed and continued. "His name is Kakashi. He'll check up on you if he's not too busy." He opened the door and started to walk out, but stopped. "Say…I've just realised something." Naruto tensed up, fearing the worst. "You never actually told me your surname." Naruto blinked a couple of times, before answering with a big grin.

"My name's Naruto Uzumaki!" The Anbu officer smiled, and bid farewell to him.

That night, when he took off his mask and uniform, he started to think about what had happened that day. Thou councils demand, the Hokage's request, his promis to Naruto…Naruto. For some reason there was something about him that was bugging both the ninja side and the Anbu side of him. Having shed the Anbu parts, the main person took full control. And suddenly.  
_"My name's Naruto Uzumaki!"_ Kakashi froze. 'No…he couldn't be…' he quickly threw on his Jonin outfit, complete with his mask covering his mouth and his head band over his sharingan, and raced out of his home. His mind was in a whirl. There was only one Uzumaki that he had ever known before.

_"This is my new wife…Kushina Uzumaki."_

The memory rose unwanted, and caused him to put on an extra burst of speed. He weaved around civilians and ninja alike, until he found himself at the memorial stone. His eye scanned the stone until he found what he was dreading. The cyclopean Jonin sunk to his knees as he took in the name, hidden inside the numerous victims of the Nine tailed fox was carved the name;

Kushina Uzumaki

Kakashi stared at it. Another name stood out for him. His sensei, inconspicuously placed just above it. Minato Namikaze. His sharingan aided memory brought two images up, one of the grinning Naruto, and the other of a grinning Minato. His eye snapped open in shock, as the glaringly obvious suddenly became clear to him. He stood up, and sliced open the palm of his hand, before clenching it in a fist.

"I swear to you…Minato-sensei…Kushina-san…Obito…Rin. I will look after and protect Naruto with my life. I refuse to fail you any further." The blood dripped from between his clenched fingers, falling onto the ground. He turned and walked away, determination set firmly in his mind. He wasn't going to let this village destroy his sensei's son.

No matter who tried it.

**AN: Phew. That took a bit of writing! Now, I will warn people, to expect Sasuke and Sakura bashing in this piece, and for Kakashi to be rather protective of Naruto (and actually train him). For a chunk of it, the story will mostly be Canon…I'm just going to make Naruto a bit stronger, and Kakashi more awesome. Another thing that I'll be changing, is that Naruto won't have failed the academy twice, because he'd have known Lee, Neji, and Tenten if he had. The next chapter will be up some point before (hopefully) Christmas. Bye!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Holy Smegnuggets! I can't believe how many fav's it's had! I had no idea that it was that good!  
Mail bag time, I think!  
forbiddenfruitunloved: I've made the name change, and Naruto only owns his apartment, paid for by the third Hokage. Aah, sorry…It's been quite a long time since I read the start of the Manga, so I didn't know that Kakashi had trained them al more than simply showing them how to climb trees. The civilian council is there so I can get the civilians shouted at by Hokage's and high ranking Shinobi's…they're not actually going to do much ^^u. And why do you need a life? It sounds like a pretty decent way to spend your time!  
Darkryus: Thanks! Naruto will be smarter battle wise, and probably personality wise in this, but no…he won't be learning the chidori, as I think that his battle style is more suited to the rasengan.  
Crimsonfang1: Thanks! I'll try to keep them all going, and keep them all at this sort of level.  
Andore-kun: Thank you very much, greetings, and Here is the continuation!  
WolfCyote: : D thanks! I had to re-write that scene three times before it worked right ^^u. I thought that with Kakashi's devotion to his old teams memory…it would actually make more sense than him focussing on Sasuke more. And while I may have Naruto form better friendships with Tenten and Ino, I already have a pairing planned for him.  
sheltie: Thank you! Heh, I'll try to make them good! And thank you very much…it's a great compliment!  
Guest: Thank you, mysterious stranger!  
Guest: Yes, next chapter! It is here!  
Gold Testament: Thank you! I shall try that in the future!  
polarbear257: Thank you!  
Blackmoon124: I'll do my best to remember that, and I'll try to stick to smaller paragraphs.  
Djinn Crimsora: I hope this chapter is easier to read. Thanks! And your icon is brilliant! Dogbert rules!  
foggraven: It's updated! Sorry it took so long, this chapter was a sod to write.**

Chapter 2: monuments, ramen, and bribes.

Kakashi walked through the streets of Konoha, four large bags of shopping in one arm, and his well-read copy of 'Icha Icha Paradise' in his other hand. He knew that he should be going to the Hokage's office, but he didn't want to get told off for failing yet another genin team. The other jonin didn't seem to understand that the teams he DID fail would have died before the year was up. He shifted the shopping slightly, and made his way to a rundown old apartment building.

Naruto sat on his beaten up old sofa, reading a scroll that he'd been given. It was about chakra control exercises, and he just didn't get them, which is why when he heard a knock on his front door, he sprung up to answer it. He opened the door, just enough to see whether it was an angry mob there to hurt him, or someone friendly, and was greeted with the sight of instant ramen being dangled in front of him. He threw the door open, and saw Kakashi standing there, the ramen in one hand.

"Yo!" Kakashi greeted, giving his famous eye-smile to the boy.

"Kakashi-san!" Naruto yelled in greeting, beaming up at the jonin. "Come in!" Before the silver haired man could argue, he was being dragged into the apartment.

"Woah, hey! Naruto, slow down!" Naruto let go and grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry Kakashi-san, but you've got ramen! And I'm REALLY hungry!" Kakashi let out a small laugh, and put the bags of shopping down on the table. Opening Naruto's fridge, he grimaced at the small amount of food inside. Sighing, he packed food from two of the bags in, and shut it.

"Naruto. You have plenty of food for the week now, so don't forget to eat regularly." Kakashi bulled a plastic bag from one of the remaining paper shopping bags, and quickly unpacked its contents into a cupboard. He looked at the contents and signalled Naruto to come over. "What do you think…did I get enough?" Naruto's eyes were sparkling as they took in the sight of an entire cupboard filled with ramen. Before the cyclopean jonin could do anything, Naruto grabbed him in a tight embrace, thanking him over and over again. Eventually Naruto let him go, and started cooking two of the instant ramens. "Why two Naruto? You can't be THAT hungry can you?"

"Well, I thought that since you bought all of them, and all this food for me…the least I could do is make you something to eat." Kakashi smiled at the thought, and sat down next to the discarded scroll.

"I see you've been working on that scroll I gave you." Naruto's head bobbed as he watched the ramen carefully, as if it would run away if he took his eyes off it. 'Come to think of it…some of the food he had the first time I came over might have…' He shuddered at the memory of what the fridge had looked like. He still didn't know how he mould had eaten through a plastic container, and honestly didn't WANT to know. After the 5 minute wait (and the whines from Naruto as they waited) Naruto brought Kakashi his food, and started to devour his food. Partway through the meal, Kakashi spoke up. "So how have the exercises been?" Naruto looked up, confused until Kakashi tapped the chakra control scroll with his chopsticks.

"Nt too grit kawashi-shan" Naruto said through a mouthful of noodles.

"Swallow first Naruto…then speak." Naruto swallowed.

"Sorry…Not to great Kakashi-san…I can't get the first one right." He sulked over his pot for a moment, before he heard movement from next to him. Looking over, he saw Kakashi putting an empty ramen pot down 'Huh? Wh-when did he eat that? And how?' Naruto stared at the jonin in awe, before he noticed that he'd picked a leaf up from the floor.  
"Watch closely Naruto." Kakashi held his hand, palm facing the ceiling, and placed the leaf on the centre of hi gloved palm. He concentrated for a moment, before flipping his hand over. The leaf stuck to his palm.

"WOAH!" Naruto's eyes were wide in awe. "How did you do that!" Kakashi chuckled.

"It's quite simple really. Concentrate an extremely small amount of chakra into the palm of your hand." Kakashi placed the leaf on Naruto's hand. "concentrate on the leaf." Naruto started to do so, and the leaf shot up. "Use less." Another try, it flew up again. "Less again." The leaf shot up, but not as far. "Getting there Naruto." Naruto concentrated as little chakra as he could onto his palm, in the area that the leaf sat. The leaf fluttered a bit, but didn't fly off. "Turn your hand over, but keep concentrating." Naruto slowly turned his hand over. He waited, eyes shut in concentration. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Congratulations Naruto…You did it." His eyes shot open, and he saw the leaf flutter off his palm.

"YATTA!" Kakashi chuckled as he watched the ball of enthusiasm bounce around the room.

"Naruto!" The boy stopped and looked at Kakashi, startled by the semi-serious tone. "Good luck at the academy." The boy grinned again, and nodded. Kakashi stood up, bid farewell to the 7 year old child and left, carrying the two bags of shopping that he'd bought for himself.

_Six Years Later_

Kakashi had spent the last few years alternating between taking various missions and acting as Naruto's unofficial guardian, bringing him food, helping with homework, and threatening various teachers at the academy. Kakashi was walking around, relaxing after a particularly nasty mission (a cat had gotten stuck up a tree, which was being guarded by a group of bandits. And people called his excuses lies)

"GET BACK HERE NARUTO!" Kakashi looked up, his visible eyebrow raised, as a familiar orange blur sped past him, followed by several Anbu agents. He sighed as he watched them, slightly ashamed that trained Anbu couldn't catch a genin. Iruka stormed up to him.

"Hello Iruka…how are you?" Iruka glared at him.

"How am I? I've just had to leave an entire class of hyperactive, soon-to-be-genin, and you're seriously asking me how I am?" Iruka sighed as Kakashi nodded. "You know, since you're his 'guardian', this is partially your fault." Kakashi looked at him.

"My fault? I didn't teach him to paint, or to sneak past Anbu. I also didn't teach him how to outrun them." He glared at the Anbu agent that ran past them, searching for the student. Iruka shook his head, and ran off. He quickly caught up to the group of Anbu that were closest to Naruto. He slowed down as they ran past a large fence, and waited. A section of the fence suddenly moved, and revealed a laughing Naruto Uzumaki. Iruka sighed, before sneaking up behind the gloating boy.

"HEY, NARUTO!"

_-Ninja Acadamy-_

Naruto was sitting on the floor of the classroom, tied up. "Listen Naruto. You failed the last two mock exams that we did in class, you shouldn't be fooling around like this!" Naruto ignored him, Causing Iruka's already fraught temper to snap. "All right, we're going to do a review of the transformation technique! Everyone does it, even if you passed last time!" The whole class groaned, and started grumbling at Naruto. The time passed slowly as each student came to the front and transformed into a copy of Iruka, until Naruto's turn.

The hyperactive child gathered chakra for the jutsu, far more than was actually necessary in fact. There was a burst of smoke, and Iruka was suddenly facing a very naked woman.

Silence flooded the room, only disturbed by the quiet dripping of liquid hitting the floor, as blood dripped from Irukas nose. Naruto struck a revealing pose, and the blood rocketed out of Iruka's nose, propelling his head backwards. "Hahaha! That's the Sexy jutsu!" Naruto loudly proclaimed, grinning madly. The other students were quite amazed at the sight before them. Naruto, the dead last, had just sent Iruka flying with a perverted jutsu. After a few moments, Iruka was back on his feet, with bloody tissues in his nose, screaming blue murder at the young boy, ultimately ending up with Naruto being forced to clean the entire Hokage monument.

After Naruto had returned from his cleaning mission (and free meal), He collapsed onto his sofa. He stared blankly at into his kitchen, before his eyes fixed onto a figure standing there, drinking a mug of something.

"Yo."

"AAH!" Naruto jumped, almost falling off of his raggedy sofa. "Kakashi-san?! What the hell was that for? You could have given me a heart attack!" He could feel Kakashi grinning at him. "So…what are you here for?" Kakashi chuckled.

"I saw your work on the monument. It was very…creative." Naruto whined.

"Awww, come on Kakashi! I've already cleaned it up!" the jonin chuckled again.

"I'm not scolding you Naruto. It truly was impressive. You not only managed to get past the Anbu squads around the monument, but you managed to evade them as well. Well done." Naruto grinned sheepishly at the praise, rubbing the back of his head. "Now…you have your graduation exam tomorrow, is that right?"

"Huh? Oh, yes! It's tomorrow. I just hope that it's not something like clones…" Kakashi chuckled.

"If you remember what I taught you, it should be just fine Naruto. It's very unlikely that the whole test will be riding on a single technique." Kakashi patted Naruto on the shoulder, before placing the mug down on the counter. "Well, I've got to get going." He looked at Naruto, a smirk working its way across his mouth. "So how about I give you an incentive to pass." Naruto looked at Kakashi with almost glimmering eyes. "If you can manage to become a genin…I'll teach you a jutsu." At that Kakashi could swear that Naruto's eyes really WERE sparkling, and glittering, and shining.

"What are you going to teach me, is it powerful, will it kick Sasuke's but, can you do it, will it allow me to become Hokage?" Kakashi sweat dropped.

"Maa, Maa. Calm down Naruto." Naruto looked embarrassed. "You'll find out if you become a genin." Kakashi ruffled Naruto's hair, and started to leave. "Get some sleep Naruto, you'll need it!"

_Three days later_

Kakashi walked into the Hokage's office, his familiar book in hand. "Good of you to finally join us Kakashi." The silver haired jonin chuckled.

"Sorry I'm late, I just got back from a small mission out of the village, and needed to look at who passed before I came here." Everyone looked at him in disbelief. "And then on the way here I had to help an old lady carry her shopping home." A collective sigh from the gathered ninja met him.

"Well then Kakashi, since you've recently read the files, is there anyone that you want on your team?" The Hokage smiled around his pipe. He'd personally made sure that Naruto's file was added to the pile Kakashi had received that day, but he also had a hunch about what the cyclopean ninja would say.

"I'll bet you a fancy dinner that he says Sasuke Uchiha." Asuma Sarutobi whispered to Kurenai Yuhi.

"Done." She smirked, thinking that Kakashi would say Kiba, since they both used dogs.

"Naruto Uzumaki." Asuma nearly swallowed the ever present cigarette in his mouth in shock. Kurenai slapped his back, her mind racing. "I don't care who else I get, as long as Naruto is on my team. I owe it to his parents." The Hokage was shocked. Not only was Kakashi requesting Naruto and not Sasuke, but he knew about Naruto's heritage.

"Why the hell would you want that demon braaagh!" The jonin who had started to insult Naruto suddenly found himself being pressed against the wall, with the back of Kakashi's arm against his neck while he read his precious book, and facing the shocked gathering.

"I'm sorry, did you say something about my student? I'm sure I must have misheard you." Kakashi queried, his voice sounding cheerful.

"Kakashi. Let him go." Kakashi stood there for a moment, before complying with the Hokage's order and pulling his arm away. The jonin landed on the floor, gasping for breath. "I will ask you to stop attacking my jonin Kakashi. I know that you are protective of the boy, but I do still need them available for active duty."

"I'll try not to break them next time, Hokage-sama." The Hokage sighed and shook his head.

"Very well…you have all requested certain people, and so I shall create teams based not only on those requests, but on the people that I believe to be best suited to go on those teams. I will send you and Iruka the lists later on. Dissmissed." The jonin nodded and left, except for Kakashi.

"Lord Hokage…Naruto's file said that he failed the exam, but passed a make-up test…may I know what the exam was?" The Hokage looked sombre.

"It was to create two clones." Kakashi sweatdropped.

"oops…it looks like I owe Naruto an apology." He chuckled, bid farewell to the Hokage, and made his way to the Memorial stone. After spending what felt like five minutes there to him, he sighed. "You've been following me since I left the Hokage's office…what do you want?"

Five jonin and three chūnin appeared behind Kakashi. One of the jonin stepped forward slightly. "The Hokage is probably going to follow your request."

"That's nice." Kakashi muttered, staring at the monument.

"If he does, you need to fail **him**." Kakashi twitched at the implication of the jonin's words.

"…no, I don't think so. If he fails the test alongside his teammates, then I'll fail him. If he doesn't, then I won't." The group spread out to surround the cyclopean jonin.

"I take it that nothing we say will change your mind." All the jonin and chūnin, with exception of Kakashi, slipped kunai from their weapon pouches.

"Sorry…but no." Kakashi suddenly moved, ducking under a kunai slash from a chūnin. Reacting on instinct, he slammed his elbow into his attackers stomach, and spun away as a jonin launched their weapon at him. Kakashi spun, kicking out and catching another chunin in the knee, and pulled the supprised ninja towards him as a shield. The other attkars faulted for a moment, unsure what to do, when Kakashi showed them. He leapt backwards and threw a kunai towards the group, before rapidly running through a series of handsigns "**Ninja art: Kunai shadow clone jutsu!**" the single kunai was suddenly accompanied by fifty more, which rained down upon the group. Kakashi landed, and set off a flare to alert any nearby Anbu. As he waited, he dismissed the jutsu, picked up his own Kunai, kicked one of the ninja away from in front of the memorial stone, and stood there. Moments later, he felt a presence appear.

"Captain Inu, what happened?" Kakashi turned, and saw one of his old subordinates, a female Anbu known as Hawk, standing before him.

"These eight attacked me, because I refused to fail a possible future student of mine." He calmly stated. Hawk let out an unladylike snort.

"Buggers deserved it then." She started piling up the defeated jonin, before turning to Kakashi. "Oh and captain…good luck teaching Naruto." Kakashi smirked as Hawk vanished with the ninja. A thought popped into his head, which he murmured out loud.

"I wonder if Hokage-sama will shout at me for that…"

**AN: that's all for this chapter. As you can see, things have changed…not much, but a bit. Please let me know if I got the jutsu name wrong. Also I'm skipping over certain bits of cannon, as I don't think I'll be able to do them justice. I will be skipping over the majority of the mission to Wave arc as will.**

**Don't worry though, things have been planned, and are being written.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: A third Chapter! Things are moving on, but still no sign of Tayuya. Well, there won't be. At least not for a while.  
Djinn Crimsora: Thank you for the input (again), Hopefully the chapter is now a bit easier to follow. No problem, and your last icon sounds awesome as well!  
SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan: ...you are either very good at guessing, or you can see into my mind…  
Darkryus: thank you, and sorry that it took so long.  
Gold Testament: Sorry that it took so long, but I had not only writers block for this story, but ideas for other stories (not all of which are fanfictions) And also, I shall be doing a bell test.  
EbonPurlight: :3 Thank you!  
forbiddenfruitunloved: The only bashing that will occur will be Tayuya's verbal assaults on people, and Naruto's rivalry with Sasuke. I have plans to deal with Naruto's crush on Sakura, don't worry. And as for her stamina, lets just say that Kakashi has plans for that :3  
foggraven: It's going to be the classic trio (for two reasons, one it's a good team, and two I've got another fic planned with a different team). The main reason I'm skipping it is because I know I wouldn't be able to add anything to it…the other is that I don't want to get the backlash from the assorted Haku and Zabuza lovers.  
IronShounen: OH MY LORD, WHERE?! Tayuya will appear around chapter 6 – 7- 8, depending on how my plans go…but it won't be the Sasuke Retrieval arc for that bit!  
polarbear257: chapter 6 or 7 or 8 depending on how the plans go. ACK, Mistakes, Nuuuuu! I'll try to keep the number of mistakes down from now on.  
Freedomsglowing hand: Thank you very much! I'll be trying to keep the bashing to a low, but when Tayuya comes in the bashing will be great.  
blackmoon124: I may have an Anbu OC or two pop up ocasionally, and I'm glad it's easier to read now, I just hope that this chap is also easy ^^u**

Chapter three: Hell's bells and cloning.

Naruto sat in the academy classroom that he'd been longing to leave for years, grinning happily to himself. He'd passed. He had actually passed! He laughed to himself, and almost didn't see his classmates enter.

"What are you doing here Naruto? Only graduates are supposed to be here." A boy with pineapple hair asked lazily. Naruto's grin grew even bigger.

"That's why I'm wearing a headband, genius! I passed a different exam." The boy shrugged before wandering off, muttering something about 'troublesome blonde's' as he went. Naruto laughed to himself again, before he, and the other people that were in the room, heard what sounded like a stampede coming towards them. All of a sudden, a girl with pink hair burst into the room, shouting an insult to the blond girl that entered seconds later.

"OUT OF THE WAY NARUTO!" Naruto quickly scooted over and ducked, narrowly dodging the speeding pink blur that latched onto Sasuke's arm. Naruto sighed, and shook his head. Yet again, he remembered the words of advice that Kakashi had given him years ago.

_Flashback_

_Naruto walked into his house, shutting the door behind him and sighing tiredly. Wandering into his bathroom, he looked at his reflection in the broken mirror, frowning slightly at the black eye he sported._

_"Hello? Is anyone home?" Naruto jumped and stuck his head out of the room. Kakashi was standing outside the apartment with his head poked through the open door._

_"Kakashi-san! Did I forget to lock the door again?" The masked Jonin chuckled and nodded, before entering. "What are you doing here Kakashi?" The eight year old queried, cocking his head to one side in confusion._

_"Can't I come and see how you're doing?" Kakashi eye-smiled at Naruto. "So, how are you?" Naruto shrugged. _

_"I'm ok. The academy is kinda hard though, and Iruka sensei is the only one that actually explains anything to me." Kakashi's covered eye twitched dangerously as he mentally planned his next visit to the academy. Kakashi's uncovered eye zeroed in on the black eye Naruto had. Nodding, he began speaking again._

_"I'll have a word with the teachers. Who gave you that black eye?" Naruto blinked at the question. _

_"Huh? oh…Sakura-chan hit me. I don't think she meant to give me the black eye though." Kakashi tilted his head in thought for a moment, before sighing._

_"Why did she hit you?" Naruto looked confused for a moment before hesitantly answering._

_"I think…I think it was because I asked her if she wanted to go to Ichiraku after classes ended." Kakashi blinked. That didn't seem like much of a reason to him._

_"Did you insult her when you asked?" Naruto cocked his head to one side, then shook it in the negative. "Then why did she hit you for asking her a question?"_

_Naruto chewed his lip before answering. "I think that it was because…err, because she was trying to get Sasuke-teme's attention?" Kakashi sighed, knowing that if he didn't nip Naruto's growing crush in the bud now, he could see the young boy getting badly hurt…and not just emotionally._

_"…This isn't the first time that she's hit you, is it?" Naruto flinched at the line of questioning. Sighing, Kakashi sat on Naruto's tatty sofa, slightly disturbed by the moving sound it made. "Why did you ask her out then?"_

_"Huh? W-well…I mean, she's really pretty, and" Kakashi cut the blond off._

_"Just because she's pretty, doesn't give her the right to hit you." Seeing the uncomfortable expression on Naruto's face, the cyclopean jonin shook his head. "…Long ago, I knew someone who was in a similar situation to you. He loved this girl…she didn't hit him, but she didn't really __**see**__ him. She was only interested in another person…"_

_"Wh…what happened to the guy that loved her?" Kakashi was silent for a moment, staring at the ceiling._

_"He died saving his teammates life…never having his feelings returned until it was too late." Naruto was stunned. "…I don't want something similar happening to you Naruto…find someone who will willingly spend time with you, that you enjoy talking with, and who you can picture yourself still being friends with if a relationship doesn't work out." He blushed slightly under his mask, as his thoughts drifted to purple hair and fishnets. "If you find someone like that…go for it." Kakashi eye-smiled at Naruto. "Now…how about I help you with your homework, then we go for Ramen?"_

_The following cheer of delight from the blond almost deafened the experienced ninja._

_Flashback end_

Naruto looked over at Sasuke, and chuckled at the twitch he was developing as Sakura babbled on and on about things he didn't care about. The stoic Uchiha glanced over at Naruto with an almost pleading expression. Naruto being Naruto, decided to help him out, whether he needed it or not.

"Hey Sakura, who do you think you'll get teamed up with?" The pink haired kunoichi paused in her chatter, and pondered the sudden question.

"I don't know…if we're going by smarts, then Sasuke and Shino, strength, then probably Ino and Hinata, and…wait… Naruto?! What are you doing here? I thought you'd failed!" Naruto's grin spread across his face, partially at the fact that he had information Sakura didn't, and partially from the fact that the entire class was now focusing on him (including Sasuke!)

"Simple, I took a different test, and passed it with flying colours!" Several people scoffed. "Hey, you don't believe me, then ask Iruka-sensei!" As if summoned by those words, their teacher walked through the door, a couple of plasters on his face. Most noticeably was his lack of a chūnin jacket and headband.

"Iruka-sensei, How come Naruto's here when he did worse in the graduating exam than dead-last?" Naruto smirked at the question from a civilian classmate, as Kiba bristled. It wasn't his fault that the lessons always sent him to sleep. Iruka smiled.

"Naruto is here because he graduated, after taking a rather…unorthodox graduation exam."

Sakura's hand shot up. "Iruka sensei, where are your jacket and hiate (**AN: Yeah…I have no idea if that's the right spelling.)**?" Iruka's smile seemed to grow even larger.

"Well Sakura…My jacket needed repairing. As for my Hiate…I think that Nruto's taking good care of it now…don't you?" Everyone turned to stare at Naruto, their mouths hanging open. The whole class was shocked when Sasuke leant round to look at Naruto, and gave him a nod, and a 'Hn' of congratulation. "Well, now that's cleared up, I have your teams here." The attention of the class snapped to Iruka so quickly, he wondered how many people would be getting whiplash. Iruka started listing off names that Naruto vaguely recognised, until he heard "Team 7. Sakura Haruno." Sakura perked up. "Sasuke Uchiha." Sakura jumped up, shouting in joy, while Sasuke slumped slightly. "Naruto Uzumaki" Sasuke let out another 'hn', and Sakura pouted. Naruto just nodded, satisfied with the choice. "Your sensei will be Kakashi Hatake."

"**YES!**" Everyone sitting near Naruto jumped away at the sheer volume of his delighted cry.

"Sit down Naruto." Iruka glared at the blond until his demand was carried out. Naruto's brain tuned out the rest of the list, as he settled in for the long wait with a happy grin on his face. (**AN: Teams are the same as in anime and manga.**)

After around twenty minutes of waiting, Naruto felt himself being poked. Looking up, he found that Sasuke and Sakura were on either side of him. "Err…hi?"

"Hey Naruto, do you know our new sensei?" Sakura asked, tilting her head. Naruto nodded. "What's he like?" Naruto thought for a moment.

"Well…I'm not sure how to describe him…he's sort of laid back? Except when he's serious."

"What's he like then?" Naruto and Sakura both stared at Sasuke blankly.

"…he's serious." Sasuke nodded, and stared at the door. "Just so you guys know…he has a tendency to be late. I think his record is four hours." Sasuke and Sakura twitched, and glared at the door. Just then, the door opened, and a familiar silver haired jonin walked in. He ignored the glares, but cocked his head to one side.

"My first impression…eeh." All three genin's sweat dropped. "Meet me on the roof in twenty minutes. Don't be late." He disappeared in a puff of smoke, narrowly avoiding the chalkboard eraser that Sakura flung at him.

_Twenty minutes later, on the roof._

"Okay then." Kakashi sat on the railing that outlined the roof, lazily looking at the team before him. "Let's get to know each other…I want to know your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams for the future." Sakura put her hand up.

"Why don't you show us what you mean sensei?" Kakashi smirked.

"Aww…how cute. She thinks she can get information out of me." Kakashi cleared his throat. "Me? Well… My name's Kakashi Hatake, I have lots of likes and dislikes, and you're not old enough to know about my hobbies. As or my dreams for the future?" "To see Naruto become Hokage, and the other two of you become great shinobi." "I've never really thought about it." Sasuke and Sakura face vaulted. Naruto just sniggered. Raising his visible eyebrow, he pointed at Sakura. "Okay, Pinky…you're up."

Sakura glared at Kakashi. "My name is Sakura Haruno. I like" She looked at Sasuke and giggled. "My hobbies are" Again she looked at Sasuke and giggled, causing him to shuffle away from her. "My dreams for the future are…" Yet again she looked at Sasuke and giggled. "I don't like Ino-pig!" The sudden declaration startled her teammates momentarily.

"Okay then, brooder, your turn." Sasuke's glare packed slightly more impact than Sakura's, but Kakashi had still seen worse.

"…My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I have many dislikes, and few likes." They all heard Sakura mutter 'hates sweets, likes tomatoes', to which Naruto and Sasuke scooted a bit further from her. "…as I was saying…What I have is not a dream, as I will make it a reality. I will restore my clan's honour, and kill a certain someone." When Kakashi was silent, he sighed and continued speaking. "My hobby is training." Their sensei graced them with an eyesmile.

"Thank you. Naruto, you're turn." The blond grinned, whie the other two wondered why he didn't get a semi insulting name.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I like Ramen, training, Kakashi-sensei, Iruka-sensei, old man Hokage, and the Ichiraku's. I don't like the three minutes you have to wait for instant ramen, and people who hate others for things out of their control. My hobbies are Training, looking after my plants, and pulling pranks on people, and my dream is to become the strongest Hokage this village has ever had, that way the villagers will respect me, and see me for who I am!" Kakashi smiled under his mask, proud of the little ninja.

"All right then…meet me at the memorial stone tomorrow at seven. Don't eat breakfast though. If you do…You'll puke!" Kakashi's voice took on a cheerful, almost conversational tone at the last declaration, causing the three genin to worry.

"Umm…Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura hesitantly started. "Why are we meeting at the memorial stone, and not the mission office?" Kakashi cocked his head slightly, and looked at her.

"hmm…I suppose I should tell you…It's for the final test to see if you can become genin." He paused for the onslaught of outraged cries. When they were finished, he continued speaking. "The academy prepares you for life as a ninja, and the final test ensures that you're able to at least perform the basics…however, the jonin sensei's, me in your case, gets to say whether or not you stay as genin, or go back to being academy students. By the way…there's a 77% failure rate." Kakashi grinned at the shocked faces his students now had, and shunshined away.

The three genin slowly got up, and made their way back to their respective houses, each in a world of their own as they thought about the information. One mind wondered if he would be good enough to pass, one whether she was strong enough to impress her love, and the third of how to use this test as a spring board for killing the figure with red eyes that plagued his dreams. Kakashi, however, was sitting in his house, accompanied by one of his drinking buddies.

"So what's this year's batch of sprogs like, 'Kashi?" The purple haired snake summoner asked, sitting in a chair opposite Kakashi. The jonin thought about how to word his answer.

"…One of my team is obsessed with killing his older brother. One of my team is a fan girl. The third member is Naruto." He shrugged. "If we can get Sasuke to work with Naruto, Sakura will willingly follow. If not, then I'll just have to hope that Naruto's personality can draw him out of his obsession." Anko nodded thoughtfully, before taking a long swig from a sake bottle.

"If you like, I'll beat the fan girl out of the fan girl." Kakashi sweat dropped, and politely declined the offer. "Your loss. So how are you gonna test them?" Kakashi smirked under his mask, and chuckled. Anko raised an eyebrow, and then grinned when she saw Kakashi hold something up. "Oh, you're good."

_The next day, 7:00 am, memorial stone._

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke all staggered to the assigned meeting point, all half asleep and hungry. The fact that Sakura's greeting to both boys was the same groan will tell you just how tired she was.

_9:00 am_

Kakashi walked up to the memorial stone, unintentionally late and angry because he was going to be on time. The anger evaporated when he saw the three genin asleep, Sasuke And Sakura resting against Naruto's shoulder. He smiled to himself, before gently shaking each of them awake.

"Hmm? Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura sat up, and rubbed her bleary eyes. Sasuke was doing something similar, and Naruto had woken up almost immediately. "You're late." Her accusation would have packed more punch, if she hadn't stretched and yawned straight afterwards.

"Yeah, sorry I'm late. Two Anbus had a message from me from the council, so I had to hear them out." What he didn't tell them, was that the message was to fail Naruto and pass Sasuke, and that the hospital now had two new admissions.

"Sounds reasonable." Sasuke mumbled, standing up and stretching. Naruto Also stood, helping Sakura up, and stretched sleepily.

"I'm glad you think so. Now, if you're all awake…I believe it's time to start our exercise." The three genin stood a little straighter and looked at Kakashi intently, causing the older man to chuckle. "Your task is…" He reached into a pocket and took out two bells attached to short strings. "To get these bells off me. You get a bell, you pass. You don't get a bell, you'll go back to the academy. You'll also get tied to one of those posts while I eat lunch in front of you." The faces on the three before him was priceless. Absolute shock. "Just remember…if you don't come at me with the intent to kill, then you'll never get close, understand?" Sasuke scoffed, thinking that it would be easy. Naruto scooched away from the Uchiha, and Sakura, knowing that Naruto had knowledge about what Kakashi was like, did the same. Kakashi looked at Sasuke with a raised eyebrow. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

"You don't look that tough." Sasuke stated, shoving his hands into his pockets. Kakashi eyesmiled.

"I'm sorry, it's been such a long time since I sparred with an Uchiha. I must have forgotten that they can defeat anyone." Sasuke twitched. "But hey, if you think that you can take down a jonin with years of experience under his belt without putting your all behind it, that's your fault." Sasuke's hand shot towards his kunai pouch.

"Looking for this?" A voice suddenly asked from behind him. A kunai was suddenly being pressed against the side of his neck, and Kakashi was no longer infront of the group. "You know…I didn't say start yet." Sakura and Sasuke were in awe.

"I never saw him move, never mind disarm Sasuke-kun!"

"So this is the speed of a jonin…"

"Awesome! I wonder if Kakashi-sensei will teach me how to do that some day!"

Kakashi dropped the kunai to the ground, and patted Sasuke's head. "You know…I think I might be starting to like you guys." Sasuke smirked, and Sakura smiled. Naruto was still smiling from seeing Sasuke taken down a peg or two. Kakashi moved to a stump, took an alarm clock from behind it, and set it. "You have until midday to take the bells from me…GO!" All three genin jumped away at that. "Well, at least Naruto's learnt enough from me to hide instead of attacking me head on." He heard a throat being cleared, and sighed. "Spoke to soon." He turned around and looked at the orange wearing ninja. "Naruto…" He shook his head when the words wouldn't come to him.

"I'm gonna take one of those bells, believe it!" With that simple statement, Naruto charged. Kakashi sighed again, and stood straight.

"Ninja technique number one. Taijutsu." He reached into his weapon pouch, causing Naruto to jerk to a halt. The orange lover stared in outrage as Kakashi took out an orange book.

"You're seriously going to read that now?! Couldn't you wait till after the test to read your smut!?" Sasuke almost fell out of his tree, and Sakura sweat dropped at the comment, and slammed their heads into the nearest hard surface at the reply.

"But I've just got to a good bit! Ami-chan is about to break into the bedroom, where her father and Kokori-chan are"

"I DON'T WANT TO KNOW!" Kakashi rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, and turned away from a punch thrown at him. He then jumped over a kick, giggled perversely, and squatted under another punch. Naruto threw an upper cut at Kakashi, who vanished.

"You should never let a ninja get behind you Naruto." Sakura gasped when she saw Kakashi squatting behind Naruto, making the Tiger hand seal.

"There's no way that Naruto can survive a powerful jutsu from that range, and I doubt a jonin like Kakashi-sensei would use a weak jutsu!"

"LEAF VILLAGE SECRET TAIJUTSU! ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH!" Kakashi's eye glinted as he rammed his fingers upwards.

"...that's not a technique…that's just poking someone up their backside." Sasuke thought. Suddenly, Naruto flew off towards the lake, before exploading in a cloud of smoke. "What the?" Sasuke clapped his hand over his mouth, and looked at where Kakashi was standing, to find him chuckling. Sasuke fetched three kunai and two shuriken from his weapon pouches, and flung them at the jonin, sure that they would distract him. His eyes widened when the weapons all impacted, and a sigh of relief came out of him when he saw a log appear where their sensei had been, all of the weapons firmly imbedded in the wood. He jumped out of the tree, hurrying to find another hiding spot before Kakashi got to him.

Sakura saw the weapons, and heard Sasuke move. She went to follow him, when she crashed into Naruto. "Naruto? How did you get here?"

"Not important right now, trying to avoid Kakashi sensei. I think he's trying to use a genjutsu on one of us." Sakura nodded thoughtfully, storrign that information away. "Besides, I need to think of a way to get Kakashi…" Sakura thought for a moment, before coming up with an idea.

"Ambushing him? You could disguise yourself as something and attack him from behind?" Naruto's eyes shone as he thought over what she'd suggested, and thanked her. "No problem, I'm going to try and find Sasuke, see if he needs any help." Naruto nodded.

"If we still have time, meet me at the clock if the two of you don't succeed." Sakura nodded, and ran off. Inner Sakura was being surprisingly quiet as she thought about why she'd helped Naruto.

"He did give me information that could help me out, and besides…he's not that bad now he's stopped continuously asking me out." Sakura Stopped, and listened for any hints of Sasuke, she heard someone land behind her, and turned, drawing a kunai as she did.

"Yo." Kakashi greeted, before leaves suddenly surrounded her. When they cleared away, Kakashi was gone. Sakura turned around, looking for anything that might hint at a genjutsu.

"S-Sakura…" She spun, kunai at the ready. Sasuke staggered towards her, with kunai poking out of his side. "R-run…" the genin collapsed. Sakura bit her lip, and started muttering a mantra to herself.

"It's a genjutsu, It's a genjutsu, It's a genjutsu." She started gathering her chakra to break the technique, inner Sakura thanking her fortunate run in with Naruto, when she heard another voice.

"S-S-Sak-ura." The girl turned slowly, and saw the image of her ex-friend and current rival, Ino before her, clutching a ribbon and bleeding heavily. "Help…me…" Sakura screwed her eyes shut, stamping down her urge to scream as her inner mantra grew more and more desperate as she tried to break free of Kakashi's genjutsu. A pressure suddenly left her brain, and she carefully opened her eyes. There was no bleeding Sasuke, and no dying Ino. She'd done it.

Kakashi stood in a nearby tree, and felt a rush of pride at her achievement. If he could get her to kick that fangirl attitude, she would go far. And what's more, there was still well over an hour and a half to go before the test was over. Although, he couldn't help wondering why the Yamanaka girl had appeared, or the significance of the ribbon.

Sasuke was getting irritated. He had found a good hiding spot, but could not find Kakashi. How the hell was he supposed to get a bell, if he couldn't find the damn man? After several minutes had passed, Sasuke's patience reached its limit. He found a clearing, and started setting traps, and locating a good spot to emerge from. After a short wait, Kakashi stepped into the clearing, and started to walk across it. Sasuke emerged, and got ready to fight. "Aah…I was wondering where you'd got to."

"Hmph. I'm not like the others."

_Seven minutes later_

Sakura walked into a clearing, and stopped. Three things caught her eye. One, there were weapons littering the place. Two, there was a large scorch mark on the ground. Three, Sasuke's head was looking at her with an annoyed expression. She bit her lip to stop herself from laughing at the ridiculous sight, and channelled her chakra to break any genjutsus. Seeing that there weren't any, she walked up to him, and crouched down. "Need a hand?" Sasuke Glared at her, then 'hn'ed in acceptance. After a few minutes of digging, Sasuke was free.

"…thank you." He ground out, making Sakura smile. "I've still got time…" Sakure cocked her head to the side.

"You didn't get a bell?" Sasuke glared at her. "S-sorry…Hey, why don't we check the clock, you know, to make sure we have time." Sasuke slowly nodded his consent, hoping that they had a lot of time.

Walking quickly, the duo approached the memorial stone, and saw Naruto sitting cross-legged, and frowning. "Hey Naruto, what's wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh, Hey Sakura, Teme." Sasuke Grunted his greeting, used to the nickname by now. "I was just remembering something that Kakashi told me once." The other two sat next to Naruto, listening with interest. "I'd asked him why we were put into teams of three, and he'd said that it was because we needed to learn how to work as a team, and watch each other's backs. Then he said something like…'Those that break the rules are trash. But those who abandon their friends are worse than trash.' And told me to remember it."

Sasuke frowned. "But then…why has he set us against each other?"

"…it's to test us, to see if we can work together." Sakura stated. "But what can we do? And why hasn't Kakashi appeared yet?" Naruto grinned.

"I've distracted him for now with my jutsu." His teammates turned to him, looking inquisitive. "I'll explain later." He closed his eyes and thought, before turning to his friends and grinning. "How good are you two at henges and genjutsus?" He settled down, and explained his plan, which was met by grins (or a grin and a satisfied smirk).

_Ten minutes later_

Kakashi watched Sasuke storm away from Sakura, who ran after him. He shook his head, and went back to the memorial stone, cursing the inventor of the Shadow Clone jutsu, and Naruto for mastering it. Naruto had flooded the entire forest with the damn things, and Kakashi had killed at least 26 of them. Kakashi walked up to the clearing, and spotted Naruto sitting next to the large stone, about to eat one of the lunches. Kakashi sighed, and decided to surprise the young boy. He shunshined ontop of the memorial stone, and looked down on the child. "And what do you think you're doing?" Naruto jumped, looked at Kakashi in a panic, and started babbling excuses. Sighing, the jonin jumped down and took hold of Naruto's arm. "Come on, this way." Naruto got up and allowed himself to be lead towards the stumps. Suddenly,

"NOW!" Kakashi heard a loud popping sound, and spun to look behind him. Three Naruto's were launching themselves at him, lined up and coming from where the lunchboxes had been. The jonin whipped out a kunai and threw it at the middle one, dispelling it, and threw a punch at the one on his right. He was surprised when the clone not only refused to dispel, but grabbed his arm. Thinking quickly, he tried to kick what he now thought to be the real Naruto, only for the left clone to intercept the kick, taking the impact, and grabbing hold of the limb. The shock was so great, that he froze for a moment, only moving again when he heard Naruto's shout of "I've got them!" The Naruto's let go of Kakashi, and moved to stand next to the third, who was grinning and holding the two bells.

"How…" the bell less Naruto's suddenly shimmered and turned into a Sakura and a Sasuke. "But I saw you two walking…" Kakashi slapped the palm of his hand to his forehead. "Of course…you henged a couple of Shadow clones, while I was busy taking out the army you left." Naruto smirked, causing Kakashi to laugh. "Congratulations you three…You pass!" The three genin all celebrated in their own way, Naruto shouting 'Believe it!', Sakura bouncing on the spot, and Sasuke smiling. "So who's plan was it?"

"Believe it or not, it was Naruto's. Sasuke said, receiving a shout of indignation from Naruto. Kakashi chuckled at their antics.

"Okay you three, I think that's enough for today. Let's meet up again tomorrow at 9." The three nodded, and started to leave. "Naruto." This caught their attention. "I want to talk to you." Naruto nodded, bid farewell to his teammates, and wandered back over to Kakashi.

"What is it, Kakashi-sensei?" Kakashi took up a thoughtful pose.

"It occurred to me, that I haven't taught you the jutsu I promised you, as a reward for passing." Naruto's eyes glittered, and he started bouncing up and down in excitement. "Maa, maa. Calm down!" Kakashi sighed as the ball of blond energy slowly calmed. Closing his eyes, he went through the impressive library of jutus that he had stored in his mind. He quickly vetoed all of the elemental jutsu's, and decided to work on his aim before teaching him and jutsu's using weapons, before a jutsu caught his eye. It wasn't a jutsu he'd thought about since the Uchiha massacre, but it would work. "Okay Naruto, this is the jutsu." Naruto watched intently. Kakashi seemed to focus some chakra to his covered eye momentarily, and then ran through a series of handsigns, before resting on a familiar cross sign. "**Ninja art: Great Clone Explosion!**" A Kakashi clone appeared next to the real thing, before running off. "**Kai!**" there was a small delay, and then an explosion where the clone had been, gouging a small crater in the ground, and taking out a part of a nearby tree. Naruto's jaw was open in amazement.

Kakashi smiled in amusement. "So…ready to learn?"

**AN: And there we have it! Chapter 3 is done! As you can see, attitudes are slightly different. Sakura is not useless, Sasuke smiles, and Naruto doesn't get tied up.  
There will be a time skip in the next chapter, as I skip over the Wave ark completely, since I'd only Sasuke's response to Naruto freezing up, and make Sakura slightly friendlier to Naruto, oh and Naruto would have a slightly easier time climbing the tree. Kakashi would still be awesome, Zabuza would still be awesome in life and in death, and Haku would still be loyal to 'Zabuza-sama' and die. It might sound harsh, but I think that they need to die for the team to develop mentally. The bridge will still be called the Great Naruto Bridge, and Gatto will still die by Zabuza's…mouth.  
Until next time, intrepid readers, farewell! **


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hello again my dears, and welcome to the newest chap! A little scene setting first methinks. The wave mission has been completed, and the team have just got home, each with different thoughts.  
I'm very sorry it's taken so long to write this, but I had a period of time where I was unwell, and I've had difficulties piecing together the ideas that I have, both on paper and on here.  
Now for the reviews;  
SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan: Thank you!  
foggraven: Thank you very much! Hehe, yeah Kakashi openly admits he's a perv, (PERVY SENSEIS UNITE!) and there will be more KakAnko in the future. And Don't worry, his new jutsu will play an important role soon.  
Maclinar: Muhahahaaa! Yes, and you shall see how he uses them soon!  
Shadowprice: Thank you very much! And Tayuya should be appearing within the next three chapters, should the plot allow it.  
Conoga: Thankyou! I'm very glad that my grammar doesn't cause bleeding eyes.  
ARealBloodDrinker: Thanks! I'm glad you like how he's turning out ^_^ Enjoy!  
polarbear257: Not yet! Just having trouble with the ideas.**

Chapter four: C rank mission and Déjà vu.

Team 7 walked back through the village gates, their minds heavy with thoughts of their last mission. Their encounter with the psychopathic ninja, Zabuza Momochi and his companion Haku had affected them in ways that none of them had expected. Sasuke now had access to his Sharingan, Sakura had realised that she needed to get stronger, Naruto had developed a new ninja way for himself, and Kakashi? Kakashi realised just how much his team had grown. And just how much they still needed to grow.

The chūnin exams were coming up, and so far they only had 13 D ranks, and one C-turned-A rank missions. While he had confidence that his team would do well if he entered them, he wanted them to have more experience. He sighed, and turned to his students. "Okay guys, we meet up on the bridge at 9 tomorrow, so go home and get some rest. You did well." Kakashi watched the three walk away, before sighing and moving towards his house. The mission had made him remember something he hadn't seen since his early Anbu years. Returning home, he immediately went to his scrolls, and found the one he was looking for. He activated the storage seal, and looked at the item it revealed.

"Well…it looks like it's time to get you fixed." He muttered, before sealing the item away again.

Naruto sat on the swing outside the academy, thinking deeply. "Naruto? What are you doing here?" He looked up with a start, and saw Iruka standing infront of him.

"Oh, hi Iruka sensei…I was just thinking." Iruka smiled softly, before sitting on the ground next to the boy.

"Well, there's a first time for everything…" he glanced over at Naruto thoughtfully. "Anything I can help with?" Naruto was silent for a while.

"Does it ever get easier?" Iruka closed his eyes and sighed.

"It's different for everybody. There are Shinobi like myself, who never fully get over a kill, but still do so to protect our village. Then there are the Shinobi who have coping mechanisms that allow them to continue doing their jobs, some smoke heavily, some gamble, some write, there's all sorts. And there are those who wear masks…they have a mask that they hide behind, to fool people to think they are fine." Iruka looked at Naruto intently with that last bit, causing the genin to flinch. "…The fourth Hokage was like that, or so I've heard. He would take out enemy ninja's, and walk around the village with a smile on his face. His team of genin were some of the only people to ever have seen what he was like under the mask. It might not be the truth, but it's a nice tale." Naruto nodded thoughtfully. After a moment of silence, he spoke again.

"We met two ninja's on our mission, a guy called Zabuza Momochi, and another guy called Haku. They were on a whole other level…Kakashi sensei only just managed to defeat Zabuza when we met them, but was out of action for a whole week." Iruka raised an eyebrow at that, wondering where this was going. "When we fought them again…I thought that Haku had killed Sasuke. I lost it, and somehow broke us out of this weird jutsu he was trapping us in. I almost beat the crap out of him, but stopped when this mask he was wearing broke and I saw who he was…I'd met him earlier that week, and helped him pick herbs. Haku told me his story and then begged me to kill him." Iruka reached up and placed a comforting hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Haku sacrificed to save Zabuza from one of Kakashi sensei's jutsus, and Zabuza acted as if he didn't care. Kakashi-sensei took out Zabuza's arms, and would have killed him, if Gato hadn't shown up." Naruto spat the name as if it left a foul taste in his mouth. "He had an army of people with him…I shouted at Zabuza for discarding Haku like a broken weapon, and kinda made him cry" Iruka chuckled at the thought of a tough missing nin crying because of a genin shouted at him. "Zabuza took a kunai, and ran into the army of thugs. He killed a load of people, including Gato, with just a kunai in his mouth…Kakashi carried him over to Haku, where he died." He was silent once more.

"Is that what we're heading for?" Iruka looked at him in confusion. "Am I going to become a ninja like Zabuza, acting cold to everyone and calling the person closest to you a tool, or a weapon like Haku?" Iruka silently stood up, and stretched. He raised his arms up above his head, and crashed a fist down into the top of Naruto's skull. "OOOWWWW!" Iruka-sensei!? What the hell was that for?" He looked up at the man, and froze. Iruka's face was more serious than he'd ever seen it.

"Naruto. You contain a burden that makes you hated by most of the village, and yet you are able to mask that pain behind a smile and a laugh instead of hatred and anger. You learnt a technique that only a few ninja in our village can actually perform, and can produce more shadow clones than even the Hokage can. You are the most unpredictable ninja in our village, you are the Ichiraku ramen stand's main source of income, and what's more," Iruka grabbed Naruto into a hug. "You are like a little brother to me. So don't you dare think that you'll become like them. You are Naruto Uzumaki, and you are your own ninja." Naruto tried to sniff back the tears that were forming in his eyes, and was failing. "Come on…let's get some ramen, my treat." Naruto rubbed his eyes on his jumpsuit jacket sleeve to get rid of the tears, and grinned broadly.

"Yeah!"

_Team seven meeting point, next morning._

_Two hours late._

"YOU'RE LATE!" Kakashi chuckled nervously as Sakura and Naruto yelled at him angrily.

"Sorry guys, I stopped to help an old man get his shopping into his house, then had to escape a woman who I owe some dango." He rubbed his neck, wincing slightly as he touched the small cut one of Anko's kunai had left.

"LIAR!" he sighed at Sakura's loud yell. Naruto on the other hand, was nodding thoughtfully. He'd met the woman a while ago and currently harboured a healthy fear of her.

"Anyway, I think it's time to do some more training, don't you?" He eye smiled at them, before creating two shadow clones. "Sakura, you will be working on your stamina and taijutsu, Sasuke, you will be working on controlling your sharingan and chakra control, and Naruto, you'll be working on your chakra control and tactics." The three genin nodded thoughtfully before being led away by a Kakashi. Naruto's Kakashi studied him for a moment. "Naruto…why didn't you use the jutsu I taught you during the mission?" Naruto flinched, before looking down at the floor sheepishly.

"I er…can't do it right yet." Kakashi's eyebrow rose up. "Well, every time I do it, it just blows up!"

"…that's kind of the point Naruto. It is an exploding clone after all." Naruto chuckled nervously.

"Yeah, but when you do it, you can make the clone walk around…mine just blows up." Kakashi looked at the blond boy expectantly. Naruto sighed and made the necessary handsigns. "**Ninja art: Great Clone Explosion!**" A Naruto clone appeared, and suddenly exploded. Kakashi blinked a couple of times, before sighing.

"Too much chakra." Naruto blinked in confusion. "You're trying to put as much chakra into this jutsu as you do into the shadow clone. The variation I've shown you is for one clone, not several. Keep practicing that jutsu until you can create one that doesn't blow up immediately." Naruto nodded and started his training.

_Five hours later_

"I DID IT!" Kakashi smiled at Naruto's excited yell.

"Good job. The others should be coming back now, so brush yourself off and let's get ready to see the Hokage for missions, alright?" Naruto cheered and started brushing off his orange jumpsuit. 'I really must talk to him about getting rid of that monstrosity at some point.' Kakashi was brought out of his thoughts by the appearance of Sasuke, who was limping slightly, and Sakura, who was being supported by the Kakashi clone. "All right team, let's take a twenty minute break, and then head on over to get a mission or two, eh?" His answer was Sakura collapsing to the ground in relief. He chuckled, and dispelled his clones, and sat down, leaning against a tree and taking out his infamous book. Naruto plopped himself down and grinned up at the sky. Sasuke sat down and brooded.

_Twenty minutes later_

"Okay guys, it's been twenty minutes. Let's get going." The three genin blinked in surprise at Kakashi's accurate time keeping. "What? It takes me twenty minutes to read a chapter." The three genin face vaulted at their sense's comment. Kakashi chuckled as he stood up. "Come on, if we're lucky, we can get something interesting for tomorrow." The three got up as quickly as they could, and followed their sensei.

For the next week, the team did a veriety of D rank missions, from catching Tora, who had developed a hatred for the Uchiha, to buying groceries for an old woman. Between missions, Kakashi trained them as if they were about to go to war. Sakura was taught greater chakra control exercises as well as the three medical jutsus Kakashi had copied, Sasuke was taught how to activate and deactivate his sharingan at will and was improving his taijutsu, and Naruto was taught a new taijutsu style (one that would actually work) that Kakashi said was 'from one of the strongest women I have ever met.'

This pattern continued until one day…

_Mission room_

"Aah, Kakashi. I'm glad that you're here." The Hokage smiled when his comment made Kakashi stop mid step, and start eying the doorway he'd just walked through with his team. "I have a mission for your team, a C rank mission of great importance." Kakashi blinked a couple of times.

"Why send us then, and not a team of jonin?" The Hokage chuckled and took a puff on his pipe.

"Because while it may be important, it is also a very low risk mission, and sending a team with a famous ninja at the lead will deter bandits from attacking. With Asuma on a mission, Shikaku, Choza and Inoichi on leave due to injuries, and Anko busy with interrogations with Ibiki, you have the greatest level of fame of any shinobi in the village, baring myself and Danzo." Kakashi nodded and sighed.

"Very well…we'll take the mission. What do we need to do?" The Hokage tossed the scroll to Kakashi, who caught it lazily. He opened the scroll and sighed.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, what's the mission?" Naruto asked, trying to peak at the contents of the scroll. Kakashi took the opportunity to rub in Naruto's lack of height, by leaning on his head. "Hey!"

"It looks like we're going to be delivering medical supplies to a place called Suzaku town." He eye smiled at the team. "I'm sure we'll get there alright." His team grinned. "Okay then, go home and get ready. We meet at the West gate at 12." Almost as soon as he'd finished talking, the three genin had run off, longing for food and a hot shower. Kakashi shook his head and tucked the scroll into a pocket.

"Kakashi." The jonin sensei looked over at the Hokage with a raised eyebrow. "I read your report…keep an eye on Naruto." Kakashi sighed.

"I'll keep an eye on all of them, Lord Hokage." The jonin nodded respectfully, before disappearing in a swirl of leaves. The Hokage shook his head, and readied the scrolls for other teams to choose.

_The Next Day, West gate, 1:00pm_

"YOU'RE LATE!" Kakashi sweat dropped and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sorry guys, I had to pick something up from the weapon's shop, and then I got roped into helping stack the shelves."

"LIAR!" Kakashi winced, partially from the volume, but partially because it had been the truth.

"Maa maa. Calm down." He looked around. "Besides, the supplies haven't arrived yet." As he finished speaking, the Hokage walked up.

"They have now, Kakashi." The trio of genin turned to the Hokage, and raised their eyebrows. He was holding a large scroll.

"You mean you put all the medicines in there?" Sasuke and Sakura turned to Naruto, surprise written across their faces. "What? It's a storage scroll, Iruka-sensei told us about them in class!" more silence. "HEY! I PAID ATTENTION IN CLASS…Most of the time…"

Kakashi chuckled. "Most likely, it's a scroll, holding scrolls, holding medicine and scrolls."

The Hokage nodded and passed it to Kakashi. The jonin sighed before attaching a length of wire from his supply kit to the scroll and hefting it over his shoulder. "I wish you the best of luck on your mission, be careful." With that, the Hokage headed off back to his tower. Kakashi shrugged, and signalled for his team to start following him out of the gate. He half turned to them while walking.

"If we hurry, we should arrive there in about…" He thought for a moment. "Seven hours I think…if we take breaks, it will be considerably longer. So, are we doing this quickly, or slowly?"

The general consent was to get the job done as quickly as possible. Sakura's reasoning was the best ("They need these supplies badly enough that they want a famous ninja to protect them, so we've got to get them there as quickly as possible!" Naruto's had been "They want them don't they? So let's get moving, Believe it!" and Sasuke's was "Hn."), so they headed off, leaping from branch to branch with chakra enhanced bounds, eager to get the mission over as quickly as possible.

_Six and 1/2 hours later, outskirts of Suzaku town_

"Well, it looks as if my estimate was a little off." Kakashi said, eye-smiling at the genin who lay exhausted at his feet and Naruto, who was bouncing up and down like a caffeinated rabbit. "Come on, let's get going." The two on the ground groaned, but got up. "Were right on the outskirts, so we'll be there in next to no" He was cut off when he caught a kunai an inch away from his face. "hmm…that was unexpected."

Three ninja's jumped down infront of them, wearing blank headbands. "Hand over the supplies leaf scum, and then go home." Kakashi raised an eyebrow and then chuckled.

"You know…I'm beginning to think that the name 'Team 7' is cursed…I don't think I've ever completed a normal C rank mission while I've been on one."

"what are you" the rest of the enemy ninja's question was cut off as the kunai Kakashi held thudded into his head ring first. Kakashi stepped forwards and slammed his fist into the man's throat, effectively taking him out of the fight. The other two attacked at the same time, only to find themselves under fire from the genin. The two attacking ninja split up, one turning on the genin, and the other focusing on Kakashi.

"You brats should have just run away when you had the chance." The ninja snarled before attacking, launching himself at Sakura. The young kunoichi ducked under his attack, and retaliated with a swift punch to the man's side. He stumbled back, and into the path of the Uchiha. Sasuke ran through some handsigns.

"Now Naruto!" The orange clad shinobi grinned, before yelling out his the jutsu that was rapidly becoming his signature move.

"**Shadow Clone Jutsu!**" Ten shadow clones pounced on the hapless Ninja, holding him down as Sasuke finished his handsigns.

"**Fire style: Fireball jutsu!**" The ball off fire slammed into the man, dispelling the clones. When the smoke cleared, there was nothing there. "Damn it…it was a clone!"

Kakashi heard the exclamation from his charges, and whipped a kunai out of his pouch, quickly snapping it up into his enemy's throat. The man exploded in a cloud of smoke. Kakashi let out a sigh of relief. "Now…let's see why this one didn't vanish." As he moved towards the final attacker, He sprang into action. The hostile ninja pulled something out of his pocket and flung it at Kakashi's legs. Acting purely on instinct, the jonin leapt out of the way. Before he could retaliate, Kakashi heard a shout of pain from behind him. Looking back, Kakashi saw Sasuke, holding his leg in pain. The reason was painfully obvious, as his shin was currently at a very painful looking angle to itself, a heavy metal weight lying on the ground next to the injured genin. Turning back, Kakashi saw a log lying on the ground where the enemy ninja had been moments before. He sighed, and moved over to Sasuke.

"That's going to take some time to heal, and it seems that this place has got an infestation of ninjas…" He sighed. "I wonder if this is a sign…our second C-rank turned A-rank mission. Maybe we should just stick to D-ranks." Kakashi carefully pinched a nerve in Sasuke's neck, rendering the boy unconscious, before he picked him up. "Let's get in there and find somewhere to hide out. A small hotel will do the trick."

Naruto nodded, his expression serious. "Do you think we should be walking around with our headbands showing, Kakashi-sensei?" The jonin thought for a moment, and then nodded.

"Good point Naruto." He pulled Sasuke's head band off, and carefully removed his jonin jacket. He took out a scroll, and had Sakura and Naruto place their headbands on it. After sealing them into the scroll, and taking a conveniently located eyepatch out of his pocket and donning it, he picked up the scroll and carried Sasuke into the town, followed closely by Naruto and Sakura.

**AN And that's your lot! Sorry about how long this has taken, I've struggled writing this chapter. On the plus side, I have my ideas (roughly) planned out now, and I'm ahead of schedule (plot-wise). I'm sorry if you don't like Naruto's little monologue, but I don't think he'd just be able to stick to his new nindo without talking to someone about it first. I used Iruka as the shoulder to lean on, because Iruka-sensei is awesome, and is like a bigger brother to Naruto in my mind.  
Please note that the next chapter of "Petals of the Fox" and of "Blades of the Byakugan" are coming. One is almost finished (the chapter, not the story) and the other is getting there.  
Until next time, intrepid reader…Good Night.**


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